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Creative Data Solutions (CDS) is a Vanderbilt Shared Resource and has extensive experience in providing effective and robust solutions to challenges pertaining to research data using modern informatics and bioinformatics approaches.

Lawrence J Marnett, Ph.D.

Official Affiliation: Pharmacology

Profile

A major interest in the Marnett laboratory is the structure and
function of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). This enzyme catalyzes the
committed step in the production of prostaglandins and is the
molecular target for non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs.
Functional analysis of COX-2 by structure-guided mutagenesis has
uncovered new strategies for synthesizing COX-2 inhibitors and has
suggested new biological roles for the enzyme. Current work focuses
on the generation of novel antiinflammatory drugs with additional
pharmacological functions and on investigations of the chemistry
and biology of COX-2-dependent oxygenation of the endocannabinoid,
2-arachidonylglycerol, to glyceryl prostaglandins.

Another major interest in the Marnett laboratory is the chemistry
and biology of DNA damage by endogenously generated products of
oxidative stress. Individual products of DNA damage are
incorporated into viral genomes for in vivo mutagenesis
experiments. Similar experiments are used to identify human DNA
repair enzymes that remove specific forms of DNA damage.

A new area of interest in the laboratory is the investigation of
protein targets of drugs and toxic compounds and the consequences
of protein modification in modulating biological function.

A broad range of techniques are used by the Marnett group including
chemical synthesis, enzymology, protein expression, site-directed
mutagenesis, bioanalytical chemistry, mass spectrometry, in vivo
mutagenesis, tissue culture, proteomics, and techniques of signal
transduction.